


and still i will live here

by moss_time



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Multi, do Not look at me do Not question this, fero didnt name his cats his bfs named his cats thats why theyre like that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21550537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moss_time/pseuds/moss_time
Summary: Can I offer you some fluff in this trying time?
Relationships: Ephrim/Fero Feritas/Throndir
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	and still i will live here

“Thanks for driving me out here.”

“Of course,” Throndir says and looks at him out of a corner of his eye with an easy smile on his face. “You know you can always just ask, right?”

Ephrim knows. Throndir wouldn't refuse to help, always eager to be here for him, but some days Ephrim just gets in a more stubborn mood and feels like he has something to prove. To himself, or to his car, or to the city traffic maybe. Not that there's something to prove, or that he's self conscious, he just really hates driving. It's simple as that. It's always a crowd, things keep happening too much and too fast, and it doesn't feel like he's in control. And Ephrim rather likes being in control.

It feels less important with Throndir. The usually constant feeling of having to prove himself isn't there, and it's a refreshing change. It does feel like the world around them slows down as well, and it's hard to worry about petty things then. But still, asking for help doesn't come easy to him.

“Yes,” he says, reluctant. He's grabbed a tiny mirror from his bag and is currently staring at it while trying to tie his hair, which isn't cooperating. He either can't catch all of it, or he does but ties it too tight and makes his head hurt, so he undoes it and repeats while Throndir drives. His hands are shaky and that only makes it harder, and him more frustrated. There's a busy day ahead and it's already past noon, he doesn't have time for this at all. “It still means a lot. I'd definitely be late if you hadn't jumped in.”

“That's what I'm here for.”

Ephrim abandons his quest of managing hair and reaches out to put a hand on Throndir's cheek, lightly, not enough to distract him from driving but enough to be reassuring, or he hopes so. He feels his head tilt towards his hand. “You are here for so many other things that have nothing to do with helping others, darling.”

Throndir does the thing he does when Ephrim reads him right and pinpoints the exact thing to say that Throndir had to hear, which is frown and not look in his direction. It's a convenient thing in this case, since he is the one behind the wheel and wasn't looking at Ephrim in the first place. It doesn't matter, they both know.

“You get what I mean,” he mutters as Ephrim retracts his hand and goes back to wrestling with his hair.

They fall into comfortable silence, interrupted by occasional remarks about traffic. It's the right atmosphere Ephrim needed to stop stressing about the day and relax, or just stress about something else. Like his hair.

They're at the destination sooner than Ephrim would have liked. Now reminded of everything waiting for him today, he quickly chucks all his stuff in the bag in panic of being late. He won't be, they're right here and he technically has half an hour more before the meeting starts, but the fear lingers. He checks through his bag to make sure he has everything and takes a moment to breathe. Throndir's presence helps. He makes no comment about him panicking and doesn't ask questions, which Ephrim appreciates immensely.

As he collects himself and goes to push the door open, he finds Throndir standing outside, and he opens his door before he gets to. He holds his hand out and Ephrim takes it, giving it a brief squeeze.

“A gentleman,” he jokes. Throndir, as if proving a point, kisses his hand, not breaking eye contact. Ephrim hopes he isn't as obviously giddy as he feels. “ _Stop_.”

They both know he doesn't want him to stop, not ever, because this is exactly the type of thing that makes Ephrim melt, but they don't have time now. Throndir simply smiles at him.

“C'mere,” he whispers and pulls him by the hand until they're face to face. He's not much shorter than Ephrim but this close it's clear, and Ephrim rather likes the ease with which he can kiss his boyfriend's forehead. He doesn't get to this time, since Throndir has other ideas on mind and goes stand behind him.

“What did you want?” he asks as he runs his fingers through Ephrim's hair. Ephrim is vaguely aware of saying something but is at the same time too occupied by the way Throndir's hands feel in his hair to be as coherent as he'd like to. With more ease and care than Ephrim had patience for, Throndir gets his hair up and ties it in a loose bun. When he gets no complaints he takes a step back.

“It'll be fine. Try not to stress too much,” he says softly, lips close to Ephrim's ear.

From the entrance of the building Ephrim notices a person waving at him. He recognises his coworker and feels the anxiety spread through him again. As if to remind him, Throndir squeezes his hand.

Ephrim sighs and nods. “Thanks. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Throndir says and quickly kisses his cheek before Ephrim starts walking away. “Call me when you're done.”

“I will.”

***

Some days Throndir regrets giving people his apartment key. An example is one of those days when he comes home from a long day of work and can't find that one chocolate he was excited about because one of his friends decided they also wanted it, or days when some of them are simply hanging out there, and as much as he loves his friends, sometimes he too would like some space.

He could never kick them out though, or tell them straight out to give him the key. Because they mean well and he does enjoy their company. And most times their visits are a nice surprise.

Today turns out to be one of those days.

This time, he comes home to an empty place. He lets out a long sigh of relief as he crosses the threshold and tries to get out of his boots before Kodiak jumps to greet him. He's been inside for about five seconds but he already hears the sound of paws against the floor.

He spends the next five minutes sitting on the floor and, pointlessly, trying to free himself from Kodiak's excitement. In all honesty he can't say it's not nice, coming home to someone so happy to see him. It's calming to sit there and cuddling with his back to the wall until Kodiak calms down. Just in time for him to start feeling the coldness of the floor he's sitting on.

Once he manages to get to the kitchen he's too exhausted and sweaty to bother checking if one of his friends has stolen any of his food while he was at work. He takes Kodiak on a walk instead and showers before letting himself relax.

Which is when he spots the bright yellow sticky note left on the fridge. He's still approaching the fridge as all possibilities form in his mind. It could be a string of excuses and explanations as to why his stale donuts are missing, or why he's suddenly ran out of milk. The mysteries never end.

So he opens the fridge first, so he can be annoyed before reading the note. Instead of finding food missing though, he finds that there is more of it than he remembers having. It's not im the fridge but beside it. It's really a sign of how tired he is that he hasn't noticed it before.

“You haven't learned how to cook while I was gone, right buddy?” he asks Kodiak sitting next to him, eyes big and undoubtedly hoping the snack is for him. “No, I didn't think so.”

It's an apple pie, and there are only three people who know it's one of his favourite meals. Throndir isn't picky, he likes most foods, except maybe Adaire's baked goods. But of the people who know about his particular love for apple pies only one can actually make one that smells as good as this one does.

Ephrim can't bake to save his life. Throndir wouldn't say that to his face, even though he knows Ephrim is aware of the fact, but he still tries and Throndir would never be mean to him like that. Red Jack can make great food of all sorts, can definitely bake, but has deemed pies too touchy for him after many tries that he didn't enjoy, even if they were pretty well done. Also, if Red Jack had made him any food, he definitely would have invited himself over too.

So it's not a hard guess at who left him this, he thinks as he picks up the sticky note, filled with scribbled writing he knows is Fero's.

_had some leftovers from lunch so u can have em, i hope the work thing went okay_

_c you tomorrow ly_

It's all done in a very Fero way of caring without showing straightforwardly that he cares, and Throndir can't stop smiling while reading the note and thinking about how many times Fero had to rewrite it to sound as nonchalant as possible. A lot, guessing from how wrinkled the paper is. 'Leftovers' is a fun word for an entire pie that is still warm and untouched, but whatever makes him feel better.

He guesses he complained long enough about the meeting he had to go to today for Fero to worry about it too, which is something.

It's a shame Fero is working a night shift tonight, otherwise Throndir would go over to Fero's place and have that dinner together. Instead he opts to text him.

**The Ranger** : 💕Thanks for the pie!

**giant rat who makes all the rules** : ur welcome!! give kodiak some

**The Ranger** : Hes a dog he cant have any

**The Ranger** : You know that

**giant rat who makes all the rules** : :/ the tragedy of being a dog

**The** **Ranger** : 😔

**The** **Ranger** : Anyway, thank you, I hope your night goes okay

**giant rat who makes all the rules** : is it good

**The Ranger** : Of course its good! You made it

**giant rat who makes all the rules** : thats not how food works

**giant rat who makes all the rules** : but also ur right

**The Ranger** : 🤗💕

***

Coming to Fero's apartment is an adventure time and time again. Ephrim knows he's in for a surprise each time he stands in front of the door. Which cat will be on the kitchen counter this time? Will he find thay one of them had pushed over the barely functioning TV and Fero hasn't cared enough to put it back on it's place? How many dirty mugs will he spot in the first minute he spends there? Is it possible that this time he'll leave the apartment without being completely covered in cat hair? No one could know.

He knocks for the sake of it, not expecting an answer. He doesn't get one, of course, so he lets himself in. He has a key for a reason, Fero would remind him, and refuse to entertain Ephrim's sense of politeness.

There is not TV on the floor, but there is a very smug Persephone on the kitchen counter. Ephrim sighs in her direction and she meows back. Adelaide would laugh and assure him that the cat doesn't understand what he's annoyed about. But Ephrim has spent enough time with Throndir and Fero, and also this cat in particular, to be certain that the cat knows exactly what she's doing and how much he hates it.

“You are a bastard.”

She purrs loudly.

“Are you bullying my cat again?” he hears Fero's muffled voice from the bathroom.

“She's bullying me,” he yells back while glaring at the cat.

Snowflake, another one of Fero's too many cats, bumps his head in Ephrim's leg. Now, if this was any other of the cats Ephrim would assume they're here to say hello and request pets. But Snowflake specifically is here for food. Food which Ephrim is sure Fero has given him. But still he meows and refuses to move from his legs like he hasn't had food in days, as if he's not spoiled rotten.

He only leaves Ephrim alone once Fero is out of the bathroom. Ephrim gets only a glance at him before he disappears in his bedroom, probably to get clothes, because Fero has never thought of taking clothes with him to the bathroom it seems.

“You just had dinner!” he shouts from his room. “Don't yell at me like that!”

The cat yells back.

“No!”

“You've raised them badly,” Ephrim comments as he dusts of some fur from the chair and sits at the tiny table. Then quickly cleans the surface of the table too. “They've got no manners.”

“What are those?” Fero mocks. He's out of his room with another cat running in front, in one of hoodies he's stolen from Hella. His hair is still dripping wet and sticking everywhere.

“That might be the problem,” he mutters.

Fero ignores the remark. “You said you're bringing food?”

“Got some takeout,” he nods and puts the bags he brought on the table.

“Thank god. I'm too lazy to cook right now,” Fero says and stands up to rummage through the bag while Ephrim goes to take out the plates.

“Do you have any clean plates? Plates at all?”

“Yeah.”

“ _Where_?” he asks and looks at Fero with a look of exasperation, pointing at all the drawers the he's opened that contain many things, most of them not being kitchen appliances, none of them being plates. Fero points to the sink.

“That's dirty.”

“Wash it. Or we can just out of these,” he puts down one of the foam containers with food.

Horrible. Ephrim takes a look at the pile of dishes in the sink. The gross foam containers will do.

Fero follows his gaze and then the line of thought easily. “Lazy.”

“It's your dishes! I'm not doing those,” he says and starts closing all the drawers. He hears Fero mutter something about just getting home hour ago. “What about– oh come on.”

Fero scowls at him, mouthful of food already. “What?”

“I was about to ask where your cutlery is but you just–”

“It's a hamburger, Ephrim!”

“Gross.”

He gives up on navigating Fero's disastrous kitchen and sits down, only half listening to Fero complaining about him not knowing how to eat fast food. He knows how to eat a hamburger. He just can't stand eating from these specific containers because they feel horrible. If he had something to eat it with he could not touch the thing he's eating it from, ignore it and eat in peace. He slowly picks up a fry and bites it.

“Seriously,” Fero groans next to him. “What do you have against these?”

He opens his mouth to explain but quickly decides that it's useless. There's no good excuse for his dislike of the way this food is packed and expected to be eaten. He can eat it like this, he'll live.

Or so he thought so. But instead of dropping it, in response to getting ignored, Fero kicks him under the table.

Ephrim glares at him for a moment but gives in at the end. “They feel bad and dirty and I hate them.”

Fero squints at him. While they're not paying attention, Persephone jumps on the table, right in Ephrim's face.

“ _No_. Rude! I'm trying to eat!”

Completely dismissing his complaints, she bumps her face in his cheek.

“I don't see why you're complaining. She's being nice to you,” says Fero, his voice coming from the kitchen. Ephrim was too busy dealing with a sudden cat in his face to notice him leaving the table.

“She's playing it nice now that you're here. What are you doing?”

“Getting you a plate.”

Ephrim feels his cheeks heat up. As if what he needed now is Fero feeling bad for him and his– weird feelings about food packaging, or whatever. Maybe this dinner was a mistake. Maybe just saying anything about it was a mistake. Now he feels stupid about the whole situation. “You don't have to do that. I don't need it.”

“Too bad. You're getting it.”

Before Ephrim gets to complain or be more embarrassed there is a clean plate in front of him.

“Thanks,” Ephrim mutters.

“You're welcome,” he says, again, with his mouth full of food. “Should have just said it bothered you.”

“I did,” Ephrim insists.

“No, you complained about my kitchen being a mess.”

He did do that.

Words with Fero are hard so instead he leans over to kiss his cheek.

“Gross,” he says, taking a bite out of his burger and doing a very bad job of pretending this hasn't affected him at all. “You're gross.”

“Oh now _that's_ gross to you?” Ephrim teases, grinning.

“Eat your dinner.”

***

Lunch at Red Jack's rarely means simply lunch at Red Jack's. Most of the time it ends up being something like a lunch, dinner and another dinner at Red Jack's. Sometimes people sleep over.

It's one of those times. They've all come around, had lunch and are now scattered in smaller groups. Most people are outside at the table, possibly playing some vaguely dangerous drinking game Red Jack and Hella have made up. There is a variety of them.

Throndir saw Hadrian and Rosana say their goodbyes qnd leave about half an hour ago. He thinks the last time he saw Adaire she was with Fero, which doesn't deem well. Mostly, he thinks people are outside having fun.

Now usually, Throndir is all for spending time with his giant messy family, it's rare that they manage to get together like this, but today they're just too much. He had barely a glass of wine and his head already started hurting so he excused himself to Red with a quick kiss and went inside.

It's weird seeing the house so quiet and empty. During every other day it's full of oni kids, and during times like this there are more people inside, at least in the kitchen. It is summer though and the evening is the best time to be outside.

Throndir lays down on the couch, eyes shut and listening to the music coming from the stereo. He's too tired to recall the name of the song or where he heard it, but it's a song Ephrim played in his car at some point, of that he's sure. Driving stresses him out, so it's rare that he listen to music in the car at all but when he does it's some sort of classical music, most of which sound familiar to Throndir but he could never name them. The song is slow in a way that he appreciates right now, the gentle sounds of the piano almost lulling him to sleep. Beside it he can still hear loud laughter from the outside.

About the time his headache stops making it seem like his head is about to explode, he hears the doors open.

Eyes still shut, he can tell it's Ephrim before he even speaks by the sound of his boots against the floor. He hears him walk closer until he feels the couch dip as he sits down next to him. A hand comes up to gently card through his hair.

Throndir hums, absentmindedly nudging his head closer to Ephrim's hand. “Hey.”

“Oh. I thought you were asleep,” Ephrim whispers, as if he is sleeping.

“No, just avoiding the crowd,” he admits. “Had a pretty bad headache.”

“Any better now?”

Throndir nods. “Don't stop though.”

Ephrim leans down to place a kiss on his forehead. He can feel him smiling. “I wasn't going to.”

Someone from the backyard lets out a loud, screeching sound. Ephrim snorts.

“ _What_ is going on there?” Throndir asks, too sleepy to open his eyes. It's not that weird of a sound to hear from them.

“Last I heard, Adelaide dared Hella and Red Jack to compete in eating hot dogs,” Ephrim says, cheek leaning against Throndir's head. “A challenge that I doubt will go well considering they both had a whole lunch recently.”

“Do we even have that many hot dogs?”

“They made Fero make more. There are bets placed,” he says. His fingers trail along Throndir's jaw. “Personally, I bet that they're both in for a bad night afterwards.”

Throndir laughs. “And what do you get if you win that?”

“Well, whatever happens there, what _I_ get to do is kiss my wonderful boyfriend and not deal with it.”

Before Throndir gets to ask what is he waiting for, Ephrim's other hand comes to rest against his cheek and he pulls him in for a kiss. Once again, a loud yell comes from the outside and Ephrim pulls away from him to laugh. It's the most beautiful sound, and Throndir feels like he might be in a dream.

He realises then, as the yelling outside comes to a stop and Ephrim's laughter trails off, that the music has stopped.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hm?”

“What's the name of that song you play in your car?” he asks. As he says it he realises that's not a sufficient description, especially when the song he has in mind doesn't even have words. “Uh–”

“The one you like?”

Throndir frowns. He liked most music Ephrim played, he doesn't remember pointing one out. “Did I say I liked it?”

“You seemed to enjoy it,” Ephrim shrugs. He leans back towards Throndir and gets back at playing with his hair. “I think I know which one you mean. Why?”

“Can you play it?” Throndir asks.

“Sure,” Ephrim grabs his phone of the wooden coffee table in front of them. Throndir watches as he scrolls through his music app until he finds the song he's looking for.

It is, in fact, the song Throndir thought of. The sound wasn't as good as it was coming from the stereo but it's definitely the same song.

Throndir grins at him. “You found it!”

“Sure thing, love,” he stands up and takes Throndir's hand. “Dance with me?”

Throndir lets himself be pulled him up by the hand, now glad more than ever that his head had stopped hurting. He lets Ephrim lead and rests his head on his shoulder. He feels him place a kiss on his temple as he wraps one hand around his waist. He's warm, but Ephrim is most of the time. He just about radiates warmth, and Throndir doesn't mean it in a mushy, romantic sense. It's in the way he grips Throndir's hand and pulls his body close to him and Throndir feels himself melt against him.

It's less of a dance and more just the two of them swaying in place. Ephrim hums along to the song, head leaning on Throndir's, and part of him wants to turn the music off so he could listen to his voice alone.

His wish does come true, eventually, when the song stops and Ephrim keeps holding him.

***

Ephrim is just about done with his dinner that night when his phone rings.

His phone rarely _rings_. It's not on silent only in case a coworker calls, but it might as well be since most people he talks to mainly text him. So when it actually rings he's quick and to pick up.

“Yes?”

“Hey,” comes a voice from the other line. The words short and loud, and voice vaguely annoyed, he recognises it well. “Can I come over?”

“Of course. Since when are you calling me to ask that?”

There are sounds of cars passing through the wet road. It's been sunny most of the day, but somewhere around the time Ephrim was driving home the sky opened and it's been pouring since. He hears Fero swear under his breath and the line goes dead.

Well.

He's about as ready to have a wet pissed off halfling in his apartment as one is on a rainy evening. Which is to say, only a bit. That bit being because he is dating Fero and as gotten used to having a pissed off halfling in his apartment.

Turns out he wasn't far away. It's only five minutes later that Ephrim hears a key turning and find Fero, as wet and as annoyed as he expected him to be, standing in his hallway.

“Hi?” Ephrim says, trying not to make a face. “How's it going?”

Fero glares at nothing in particular and keeps clenching and unclenching his fists. He's visibly shivering and overall looks like he took a swim in the pool, clothes and all. “It's going.”

He takes his shoes and jacket off and drops them on the floor. Ephrim gets up from the couch and walks over, feeling like he should do something but unsure what.

“Can I shower?” Fero asks and throws his drenched jacket on the floor. It must be really raining outside. It's easy to ignore it when you're not getting rained on.

He doesn't wait for Ephrim to answer before going to the bathroom. “Which one of these am I supposed use?” he shouts.

Ephrim takes a moment to sigh and be annoyed before he gets in and shuts the door behind them. There's Fero, with a shampoo and a conditioner in his hands, swaying them left and right.

One would think that when you're tired and not having a good time, you'd want to get to bed as quickly as possible and relax, but Fero does this great thing of making life harder for himself and people around him instead. When he got up that morning, Ephrim very much didn't plan to spend his evening wrangling a very frustrated Fero into warm water, but life has it's ways.

“Stop that. Get in the tub,” Ephrim says and takes his stuff away from him.

“Just tell me what I can use! Fuck, I can use nothing for all I care–”

Ephrim shoots him a glare. “Absolutely not. Clothes off.”

“I'm not in the mood.”

“Shut up. Get in.”

He does, eventually. It takes Ephrim a bit longer to get them both in the bathtub and force Fero to stop trying to do things and just sit there. It's a challenge. He's fidgety and he hates it. Ephrim also hates it. It's like forcing a cat to bath. The cat hates it and you hate that the cat hates it but it's impossible to convince it that you're trying to help.

“God, just relax,” Ephrim says when Fero pushes a bar of soap off the side. It could be an accident. Ephrim tells himself it's an accident. “Calm down.”

Not a smart move perhaps, if there's anything Fero hates it's people telling him to calm down. It's close to a miracle that this time he doesn't argue.

Ephrim lets the water flow. He takes the shower head and puts it above Fero's hand. “Good?”

“Try warmer.”

“Now?”

Fero nods. Ephrim turns the water flow on a bit more and starts from his shoulders.

“Why were you outside?” he asks.

Fero shrugs. “Work.”

“That's on the other side of the town.”

“Okay,” he says curtly. “I got on the wrong bus. I got out of it and at that point your place was closer than mine. Happy?”

Ephrim puts his hand on the side of his head to get him to tilt it backwards. He tugs the tie from his hair and start washing it. It's not an easy thing to do, with how much hair Fero has. “What would I be happy about?”

Fero lets out something that could be a sigh and a groan. He mutters something that Ephrim guesses is an 'I don't know', but he can barely hear him over the shower even though the flow is pretty weak.

Carefully, he threads his fingers through his dense hair, untying the many knots on the way. He keeps the comments to himself and gently massages his scalp instead. Throndir would be better at it, he's objectively unfairly good at massages, but Ephrim can do his best.

“How was work,” he asks as his hands travel down the back of his neck to his stiff shoulders.

It seems to be working as he intended, as he feels Fero relax against him a bit. “Fine.”

The lack of talking worries him, but Ephrim lets him be, now back at shampooing and rinsing his hair. He doesn't want to rush it, especially when with time Fero slumps against him completely. It makes washing his hair harder, but he's not about to complain. He grabs the conditioner of the shelf and slowly rubs it in his hair, and it's another proof to how content Fero is when he doesn't complain about it.

“Darling,” Ephrim speaks softly in his ear once he's finally finished with his hair. “I'm gonna need you to sit up a bit if you want me to wash your back.”

Fero hums. “I'm fine actually.”

His eyes are shut and he's too calm, which is as much of a sign Ephrim can get that he's about to fall asleep, and as sweet that is he doesn't have the strength to drag Fero to the bed alone.

“If you don't want me to wash you then we're getting out,” he says and puts his arms around Fero's torso to push him forward. “Get up.”

“Don't wanna.”

Purposely ignoring his protests, Ephrim stretches his hand to get the towel from the shelf beside them. Fero makes more dissatisfied noises as he rubs his hair with it, despite his efforts to be gentle. One more time he tries to push him up.

“Come on,” Ephrim murmurs in his hair. He presses a kiss to the side of his head. “I'll be with you in the actual bed too. It'll be much more comfortable, I promise.”

It takes them a bit, but he gets the keep his promise in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> shout out to my partner for mentioning the i love us/signs of affection prompt so i wrote it for them and now its also here i guess. ty for reading!


End file.
